You are here

VU, N.C. St. to battle

TERESA M. WALKER

AP Sports Writer

NASHVILLE — Vanderbilt will only have to travel a few miles from campus for its bowl game, and the Southeastern Conference program that finally needs a second hand to count its postseason games couldn’t be happier.

The Commodores (8-4) will face North Carolina State (7-5) in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 31 at LP Field in a game matching a coach who just signed a contract extension against an interim coach from the Atlantic Coast Conference. This also will be the Commodores’ third straight bowl inside the state of Tennessee and second Music City Bowl game since 2008.

“We just love the opportunity to play in the postseason,” Vanderbilt quarterback Jordan Rodgers said.

“That’s something we don’t take for granted around here at Vanderbilt. It’s something we’re going to be doing a lot more in the future,” Rodgers said. “But this is a great opportunity to play a different conference, to play on New Year’s Eve. It’s going to be a day game I believe so we’ll have New Year’s Eve to hang out with all our fans here in Nashville.”

This will be just the sixth bowl game for Vanderbilt, and coach James Franklin had his new contract announced earlier Sunday night for taking the Commodores to consecutive bowl games for the first time in school history. They bring a six-game winning streak into this bowl sponsored by Franklin American Mortgage.

Franklin calls this bowl a great opportunity to stake their claim as Nashville’s team.

“The numbers I threw out of being able to sell 55,000 or so tickets to this game I truly believe we can do that,” Franklin said. “I don’t believe that’s a reach. I believe that’s a realistic thing we can do and make this the best Music City Bowl that’s been played here. I’m excited about it. I think it makes a lot of sense in a lot of different ways, and we’re proud to represent the SEC in the Music City Bowl.”

North Carolina State offensive coordinator Dana Bible will serve as the Wolfpack’s interim head coach in place of Tom O’Brien, who was fired last weekend. The Wolfpack introduced new coach Dave Doeren at a news conference Sunday, but Bible will be in charge of the team for the bowl.

The Wolfpack will be playing in its 27th postseason game and are one of only 12 teams to win back-to-back bowls.

“Nashville is a unique city with a tradition all its own,” N.C. State athletic director Debbie Yow said in a statement. “The Wolfpack will enjoy becoming familiar with it and appreciate its charm.”

The Commodores beat Boston College 16-14 in 2008, their first bowl win in 53 wins. Linebacker Archibald Barnes, a fifth-year senior, was a redshirt that year. He couldn’t stop smiling looking over a room that had been filled with Vandy fans while school officials stayed busy selling T-shirts and taking ticket orders.

“The seniors who were here for the last Music City Bowl, we’re excited,” Barnes said. “We get to end where we started. It’s kind of like a legacy, like we did the older guys proud by being able to get back to the Music City Bowl. We’re honored to play in Nashville. We love it here, and that’s why we’re here.”

NC State introduces Doeren: Dave Doeren wanted to go somewhere he could have an impact. He’ll get that chance with a stagnant North Carolina State program in need of a push forward.

The school held a news conference to introduce Doeren on Sunday. It capped a busy 48-hour period that saw Doeren lead Northern Illinois to a second straight Mid-American Conference championship on Friday night, then agree to take over the Wolfpack on Saturday and replace Tom O’Brien.

“It seemed like a place that was very close to getting to the next step,” Doeren said. “I feel like I can make a difference here. That was the one thing I wanted to be able to do.”

Athletic director Debbie Yow said Doeren would receive a five-year contract worth about $1.8 million a year. There’s also an automatic two-year extension that kicks in if his program finishes in the top 25 in either of his first two seasons.

“He is a smart guy,” Yow said. “Smart. Creative. He’s not wed to a system. He’s going to do what he has to do to match up what talent we have with whatever it is he’s trying to do. … That’s a really important trait for any coach.”

Doeren was 23-4 in two seasons as Northern Illinois coach, including a 17-1 in conference play. He won’t coach the No. 16 Huskies (12-1) in their bowl game.

Doeren turns 41 on Monday. “I wasn’t going to spend a whole lot of time looking around,” Doeren said. “At NIU, I had a very good team coming back. … I wasn’t going to leave it for just anything. I wasn’t going to leave it for a place I didn’t believe in or a place I didn’t want to raise my family in.”

He takes over a program in need of a spark. The school hasn’t appeared in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game and hasn’t won a league title since 1979.

The school fired O’Brien last week after six seasons. He went 40-35 in his six seasons in Raleigh and 5-1 against rival North Carolina while his teams reached four bowls. But the Wolfpack went just 22-26 in ACC play and 1-14 in Atlantic Division road games under the former Boston College coach.

Yow said Doeren was her top choice, though she worried whether the Wolfpack could land him with so many coaching vacancies in BCS conferences.

Doeren said he began making calls Saturday night to recruits who verbally committed to play for the Wolfpack under O’Brien. He met with the current players Sunday as they prepare for a bowl game under interim coach Dana Bible, a longtime assistant to O’Brien.

Before taking over at Northern Illinois, Doeren spent five years as an assistant at Wisconsin, where he served stints as defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator.

Doeren also worked as an assistant at Kansas, Montana and Drake — his alma mater.

Doeren helped develop two-way threat Jordan Lynch into a possible Heisman Trophy contender — with nearly 3,000 yards passing and 1,771 yards rushing, he ranks third nationally in total offense — and his Husky teams scored at least 40 points in 16 of 27 games. They average 40.8 points this season and rank in the top 15 in the nation in five offensive stat categories.

Yow described Doeren as an overachiever who follows NCAA rules with a relentless work ethic.

“There’s no shortcuts — I believe in that,” Doeren said. “I believe shortcuts are turnovers, shortcuts are losses. … If we want to be a consistent top-25 program, then we have to be tireless workers that understand that that’s our charge. And we will be.”

Rules for posting comments

Comments posted below are from readers. In no way do they represent the view of Stephens Media LLC or this newspaper. This is a public forum.

Comments may be monitored for inappropriate content but the newspaper is under no obligation to do so. Comment posters are solely responsible under the Communications Decency Act for comments posted on this Web site. Stephens Media LLC is not liable for messages from third parties.

IP and email addresses of persons who post are not treated as confidential records and will be disclosed in response to valid legal process.

Do not post:

Potentially libelous statements or damaging innuendo.

Obscene, explicit, or racist language.

Copyrighted materials of any sort without the express permission of the copyright holder.

Personal attacks, insults or threats.

The use of another person's real name to disguise your identity.

Comments unrelated to the story.

If you believe that a commenter has not followed these guidelines, please click the FLAG icon below the comment.